Sand Harbor Washoe County   39.20003, -119.93032

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"I'm not too sure what to make of this one. I'm glad there is a marker representing Sand Harbor, but its location bugs me to no end. Wouldn't this one be better placed at the main entrance to Sand Harbor? Or, what about the "Vista Point" just up the road? Most people who visit this grand spectacle enter via the main gate ... not the boat launch. It only makes sense to place a marker at ... a place where people will see it? Beggars can't be choosers I guess." -- Journal Entry, August 2007

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At the Sand Harbor Boat Launch, 4 miles south of Incline Village
* From US 50, head north on SR 28 for 8.2 miles to the boat launch on your left *

Original Date Visited: 8/24/07

Signed: No

Notes: Here is yet another marker that would benefit from at least one sign from the highway. Without question [221] is one of the most difficult markers to locate in the entire state. Common sense would dictate that an historical marker located in a heavily-visited park (like Sand Harbor) would be placed where people could easily view it such as the main ark visitor center or in the main parking area to the park? Nope. Instead, the SHPO chose the Boat Launch a private-use area for boaters only. So then, here's what you need to do ...

- Look for a brown sign that reads "Boats Only" from SR 28. If you're coming from US 50, this sign is located just past the main entrance to "Sand Harbor, Visitor Center." Turn left to pull into the Boat Launch and park. The marker sits a few yards south of the entrance booth literally right in front of the boat ramp and half-hidden by a spruce tree. Be warned though if you come here during the middle of summer, don't be surprised to find the entrance kiosk staffed and ready to take your parking fee. If so, just adamantly tell the ranger you're only here to capture the marker and they should let you in. If not, park along SR 28 somewhere and walk into the boat launch.

Exact Description:
History records Sand Harbor as playing an important role in the operations of the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company, one of three large combines supplying lumber and cordwood to the Comstock mines during the late 19th century. Walter Scott Hobart organized the company and John Bear Overton was its general manager.

The steamer "Niagara" towed log rafts from company land at the south end of Lake Tahoe to Sand Harbor. Here the logs were loaded on narrow-gauge railway cars and taken two miles north to a sawmill on Mill Creek.

Lumber and cordwood were started on the way to Virginia City via an incline tramway 4,000 feet long, and rising 1,400 feet up the mountainside where the material was transferred to water flumes and transported to Lakeview just north of Carson City.

The tramway has been described as "the Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada."

Thanks to this tree there's no way to spot this marker from the highway.

Next Marker:

TANNEHILL CABIN

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Related Links & Markers

 [193] -- Historic Flume & Lumber Yards   [219] -- Glenbrook   [225] -- Spooner Area ...   [246] -- The Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada   Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park (Nevada State Parks) 

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